mars 20, 2009

In the word of any – watching any TV show any time is basic. With the rapid spreading of DVRs, more and more people fast forward through the ads at 6 x speed. In Sweden, MMS (the supplier of TV audience data) will start to measure time-shift viewing this year. Normal people, i.e. not advertising nerds like myself, see the advertising breaks as interruption from the TV show and hit fast forward to get passed the advertising as fast as possible.

The interesting thing is that people adjust to the faster pace, research show. When fast-forwarding, viewers are more focused since they are alert to see when the advertising break is over. Ads communicate, even at 6 x speed. For ads that we have seen before, the 5 second minisode of a 30 second commmercial gives a repetion of the original spot. However, the short time and the absence of sound limits the possibilities to communicate. It resembles low involvement processesing, when the brain is involved to a lesser extent and able to recognise the ad, but not necessarily recall it spontaneously.

This finish my guest appearance here on Nextopia. It’s been a pleasure, and I look forward to Micael’s return next week. I know for a fact he’s got some really sharp insights for us.

mars 19, 2009

”Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him. ”

Aldous Huxley

SKI, Swedish Quality Index, measures quality trough surveys in a number of industries every year. The quality Index is composed of several component, among which Expectations (together with Loyalty) stand out for most brands in most categories as being the strongest explanation of Quality

The question is which came first? Do people rationalize their experiences so that they experience the quality they expected? Or are expectations based on experiences of quality – own or others?

A classic example is an experiment where students where given information about a lecturer in a coming class. Some student where told he was exceptionally good, some that he was average and some that he was rather lousy. All participants then visited the same lecture, and those with high expectations also the rated the lecturer’s performance the highest, whereas those who were told he was bad, also rated the lecturer low. So expectations do influence the experience.

When our expectations are confronted with the actual product or service, the flaws we didn’t think of becomes evident, and the quality experience was not as good as we expected. But that’s all right, because we have already started to consume one with higher quality – the next one.

mars 18, 2009

”And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Genesis 1:27

Religion is founded on absence of facts, just like Nextopia. Religion is the residual. What can’t be explained in our model of the world, we explain with religion. (We still only have a model; we for example don’t know how many dimensions our world has) Thor, with his thundering carriage and his sparkling hammer, was the explanation for thunder, Ra carried the sun across the sky everyday and God developed the species. Finding the facts undermine the base for authorities, based on controlling the unknown, like Galileo Galilei experienced.

The promises of the future has long been the USP for religion. Where do we go when we die, how will the crop turn out, will it rain – all challenges for which religion has provided the answer. What cruel deeds have not been created in the name of religion – all driven by depraved leaders offering The Right Way to Nextopia.

Maybe Man created God in his (idealized) image. Man’s image of himself, once he has overcome his human weaknesses – in Nextopia

PS. Don’t get me wrong. Religion can be a wonderful positive thing, but sometimes it is misused. In these sad exceptions, the connection to Nextopia is unpleasently clear.

mars 17, 2009

Budget cuts is on many agendas these days. Working at a media agency, media budget cuts is always an interesting subject. Although most people know it is good business to maintain your budget, or even increase, when competitors cut back, very few do. I think one of the reasons behind this seemingly ineffective behavior is asymmetric expectations.

The greater the uncertainty, the greater the possibilities, as I discussed in yesterdays posting. In business, the result is derived from costs and income. The former controlled and planned, the latter appears as an answer to our prayers, or at least as the outcome of marketing. The cost budget will happen in the future, very little room for romantic expectations there. The negative side of the P&L is decided here and now, measured and entered in the books, the positive lies in Nextopia. Thus, the expectations on the future are asymmetric between cost and income.

Nextopia symptoms sometimes need to be modulated. Expectations on results can and should be effected by alterations in conditions (e.g. advertising budgets), in my opinion more than currently is the case. It may take some of the magic away from marketers and salespeople, but the trend towards more accountability in marketing and advertising we have seen over several years will continue, I believe.

”The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”

Bertrand Russell

Nextopia thrives on uncertainty. It is the lack of facts and information that leaves to our imagination to create our expected future. We search for knowledge and spend so much effort in finding facts, yet at the end it doesn’t help us. Imagination creates possibilities and goals, but when the cards are turned, when the fog lifts and the facts are displayed, restrictions, complications, objections and consequences surface. The less we know, the greater the possibilities for hopes and creative interpretations.

We hold the Economic Man as our role model, bud indeed he does not contribute to our desires, our ambitions, hope, love, imagination or creativity. The anti-materia of Nextopia is facts, verifications and knowledge.

Breakthroughs, to boldly go where no one has gone before, is driven by fools and fanatics, living in Nextopia, breaking free from the bonds of Economic Man and other wise men, all full of doubts.

We often fail to put our facts and figures to good use, which is to fuel aspiration, inspiration and even transpiration.

It may not be the whole problem with the world, but wouldn’t the world be a little better if could achieve this more often?